Pure Beauty

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Pure Beauty

Judging Race in Japanese American Beauty Pageants

Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain

Table of Contents

PRESS:
Honolulu Star Bulletin

$20.00 Paper
ISBN: 0-8166-4790-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4790-3

$60.00 Cloth
ISBN: 0-8166-4789-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4789-7

Examines the question, Who is Japanese American?

With a low rate of immigration and a high rate of interracial marriage, Japanese Americans today compose the Asian ethnic group with the largest proportion of mixed-race members. Within Japanese American communities, increased participation by mixed-race members, along with concerns about overassimilation, has led to a search for cultural authenticity, giving new answers to the question, Who is Japanese American?

In Pure Beauty, Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain tackles this question by studying a cultural institution: Japanese American community beauty pageants in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Honolulu. King-O’Riain employs rich ethnographic fieldwork to discover how these pageants seek to maintain racial and ethnic purity amid shifting notions of cultural identity. She uses revealing in-depth interviews with candidates, queens, and community members, her experiences as a pageant committee member, and archival research—including Japanese and English newspapers, museum collections, private photo albums, and mementos—to establish both the importance and impossibility of racial purity. King-O’Riain examines racial eligibility rules and tests, which encompass not only ancestry but also residency, community service, and culture, and traces the history of pageants throughout the United States. Pure Beauty shows how racial and gendered meanings are enacted through the pageants, and reveals their impact on Japanese American men, women, and children.

King-O’Riain concludes that the mixed-race challenge to racial understandings of Japanese Americanness does not necessarily mean an end to race as we know it and asserts that race is work—created and re-created in a social context. Ultimately, she determines that the concept of race, fragile though it may be, is still one of the categories by which Japanese Americans are judged.

“King O’Riain examines the meaning of racial ancestry for Japanese Americans in Hawaii, California, and Seattle. The author reveals how Japanese Americans use biology, culture, and gender to construct their ethnic identity. For example, women wishing to be contestants must prove their ancestry, and finalists must learn to wear a kimono and reveal the nape of their neck. The book vividly presents these experiences through quotations form 60 personal interviews as well as archival data and the author’s own participant observation of pageant events. King O’Riain makes an important contributions to this research front.” —Choice

“An excellent and provocative study that addresses a topic that will only increase in relevance with changing demographic and theoretical concerns.” —Journal of American Ethnic History

“Pure Beauty is an engaging read throughout. With Pure Beauty, King-O’Riain makes an important contribution to race theory and to the growing multiracial literature.” —Contemporary Sociology

“Pure Beauty makes a tremendous contribution to Asian American studies, sociology, cultural studies, and women’s studies. By exploring complex yet contradictory meanings in beauty pageants, King deftly portrays a multifaceted picture of Japanese American communities.. the author’s impressive study of the cultural production provides yet another model of cultural analysis that no doubt contributes to our understanding of Japanese American experiences and of the relationship among cultural productions, gender, and racial and ethnic identity formation.” —Journal of Asian American Studies

“Pure Beauty is an interesting and informative contribution to American racial studies in general and Asian American studies in particular.” —American Studies

“King’s ability to weave the thoughts of the pageant participants into her analysis is one of the greatest strengths of the book. . . . Pure Beauty is an important contribution to the scholarship and would be especially useful in courses examining the construction of race and ethnicity in American society.” —The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth

Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain is lecturer in sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

280 pages | 6 halftones, 10 tables | 5 7⁄8 x 9 | 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction: Negotiating Racial Hybridity in Community Beauty Pageants
1. Race Work and the Effort of Racial Claims
2. The Japanese American Community in Transition
3. Japanese American Beauty Pageants in Historical Perspective
4. Cultural Impostors and Eggs: Race without Culture and Culture without Race
5. Patrolling Bodies: The Social Control of Race through Gender
6. The “Ambassadress” Queen: Moving Authentically between Racial Communities in the United States and Japan
7. Percentages, Parts, and Power: Racial Eligibility Rules and Local Versions of Japanese Americanness in Context

Conclusion: Japanese Americanness, Beauty Pageants, and Race Work
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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Pure Beauty *Judging Race in Japanese American Beauty Pageants* Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain Table of Contents PRESS: Honolulu Star Bulletin		$20.00 Paper ISBN: 0-8166-4790-9 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4790-3 $60.00 Cloth ISBN: 0-8166-4789-5 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4789-7
Examines the question, Who is Japanese American? With a low rate of immigration and a high rate of interracial marriage, Japanese Americans today compose the Asian ethnic group with the largest proportion of mixed-race members. Within Japanese American communities, increased participation by mixed-race members, along with concerns about overassimilation, has led to a search for cultural authenticity, giving new answers to the question, Who is Japanese American? In Pure Beauty, Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain tackles this question by studying a cultural institution: Japanese American community beauty pageants in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Honolulu. King-O’Riain employs rich ethnographic fieldwork to discover how these pageants seek to maintain racial and ethnic purity amid shifting notions of cultural identity. She uses revealing in-depth interviews with candidates, queens, and community members, her experiences as a pageant committee member, and archival research—including Japanese and English newspapers, museum collections, private photo albums, and mementos—to establish both the importance and impossibility of racial purity. King-O’Riain examines racial eligibility rules and tests, which encompass not only ancestry but also residency, community service, and culture, and traces the history of pageants throughout the United States. Pure Beauty shows how racial and gendered meanings are enacted through the pageants, and reveals their impact on Japanese American men, women, and children. King-O’Riain concludes that the mixed-race challenge to racial understandings of Japanese Americanness does not necessarily mean an end to race as we know it and asserts that race is work—created and re-created in a social context. Ultimately, she determines that the concept of race, fragile though it may be, is still one of the categories by which Japanese Americans are judged. “King O’Riain examines the meaning of racial ancestry for Japanese Americans in Hawaii, California, and Seattle. The author reveals how Japanese Americans use biology, culture, and gender to construct their ethnic identity. For example, women wishing to be contestants must prove their ancestry, and finalists must learn to wear a kimono and reveal the nape of their neck. The book vividly presents these experiences through quotations form 60 personal interviews as well as archival data and the author’s own participant observation of pageant events. King O’Riain makes an important contributions to this research front.” —Choice “An excellent and provocative study that addresses a topic that will only increase in relevance with changing demographic and theoretical concerns.” —Journal of American Ethnic History “Pure Beauty is an engaging read throughout. With Pure Beauty, King-O’Riain makes an important contribution to race theory and to the growing multiracial literature.” —Contemporary Sociology “Pure Beauty makes a tremendous contribution to Asian American studies, sociology, cultural studies, and women’s studies. By exploring complex yet contradictory meanings in beauty pageants, King deftly portrays a multifaceted picture of Japanese American communities.. the author’s impressive study of the cultural production provides yet another model of cultural analysis that no doubt contributes to our understanding of Japanese American experiences and of the relationship among cultural productions, gender, and racial and ethnic identity formation.” —Journal of Asian American Studies “Pure Beauty is an interesting and informative contribution to American racial studies in general and Asian American studies in particular.” —American Studies “King’s ability to weave the thoughts of the pageant participants into her analysis is one of the greatest strengths of the book. . . . Pure Beauty is an important contribution to the scholarship and would be especially useful in courses examining the construction of race and ethnicity in American society.” —The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain is lecturer in sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. 280 pages \| 6 halftones, 10 tables \| 5 7⁄8 x 9 \| 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Introduction: Negotiating Racial Hybridity in Community Beauty Pageants 1. Race Work and the Effort of Racial Claims 2. The Japanese American Community in Transition 3. Japanese American Beauty Pageants in Historical Perspective 4. Cultural Impostors and Eggs: Race without Culture and Culture without Race 5. Patrolling Bodies: The Social Control of Race through Gender 6. The “Ambassadress” Queen: Moving Authentically between Racial Communities in the United States and Japan 7. Percentages, Parts, and Power: Racial Eligibility Rules and Local Versions of Japanese Americanness in Context Conclusion: Japanese Americanness, Beauty Pageants, and Race Work Notes Bibliography Index